The Perplexing Case of The Sandwich Thief
by Just A Random Pencil
Summary: It was supposed to be a simple job. Instead, the Chaotix embark on their most baffling case yet, tracking down the most notorious culinary criminal of all times. Silver just wanted to go home.
1. Chapter 1

Okay, I've been working on this one for a while now and I'm excited to share it with all of you. Not just because this is my first multi-chaptered work, but because Sonic was the first fandom I was really into and also how I found out about fanfiction, so it means a lot to me.

The Sandwich Thief takes place in the Sonic 06 universe, in a sort of AU where everyone who was there at Sonic's resurrection remembers everything. And I mean _everything_ , even how Sonic was brought back to life. *Shudders*

06 isn't a great game, it has a lot of flaws *cough* Elise *cough*, but it did a lot of great things, like having Silver as a major playable character and introducing my favorite villain in Sonic, Mephiles the Dark.

Sonic the Hedgehog doesn't belong to me.

* * *

Chapter 1

Silver spun around, almost falling off the rooftop he was standing on as he tried to get his bearings. His first coherent thought was something along the lines of _seriously, again!?_

It was the second time the hedgehog found himself in a completely different place and time in a blink of an eye and it was just as confusing and disorientating as the first time. _That had been after going back to the ruined future with a plan to seal Iblis within myself. It should've worked, but instead_... The crackling explosions in the night sky really helped with distracting his mind. It probably wasn't dangerous if no one was running away screaming. Whatever those colorful sparkly things were called, Silver remembered seeing those the first time he briefly saw the festival. Which meant that he was back on the night of the Festival of the Sun in Soleanna.

Except for being the same night, it felt like tonight couldn't possibly be any more different than the first time he was here. For one, there was no Amy and her rib-cracking hug, nor was he not looking for the Iblis Trigger-Sonic-anymore. _Wow. A lot had changed in... How many days had it been since this whole thing started? It was hard to keep track of time when traveling through it to the past and then briefly to the future with a plan to stop Iblis for good and hey! How about looking at all that interesting stuff over there?_

From this spot, Silver could see everything. The regal floaty-thing, the six dancers aboard in their yellow clothes, even the Princess waving to the crowds. Silver felt a shiver suddenly run down his spine. What she did to revive Sonic, he didn't know what it was called, but must have been very offensive judging by Amy's screams of revenge and promises of agony and death.

Finally, after clearing up where and when he was, came the next issue. Where everybody _else_ was.

"Guys? Sonic? Shadow? Amy? Anyone?" Silver looked around for anyone familiar. _It should've been easy. They all stuck out in comparison to whatever species the people of Soleanna were._

There was no one else with him. It was just him, alone, in the past, in a place he barely knew with no idea what to do, now that the future was saved.

 _Wait._ He blinked. It was right there, as Silver stood on the rooftop watching the festival down below after saving the world that it finally sunk in the fact the future was saved. _Which means… which means I can go home!_

"All I have to do is find a Chaos Emerald..." Silver didn't notice when he slipped into his old habit of voicing his thoughts aloud for the sake of the audience, "and use it to get back home."

By the time Silver had finally gotten through with the first part of his plan, the adrenaline, urgency, having the fate of the world hanging on the line, whatever you want to call his motivation to not collapse in exhaustion, was long gone. In the back of his mind was the vague realization that he didn't remember the last time he'd slept, but it was hard to think, so that thought didn't last long.

Silver shambled through the narrow cobblestone streets, golden eyes darting between looking to make sure he wasn't walking smack into a wall and the blue Chaos Emerald in his hand. It was his stupid fear that if he didn't frequently visually confirm he had the powerful gem in his grasp, it would suddenly disappear and force him to look for it all over again.

He could've gone home already, but it felt wrong to end what had to be the most significant time in his life this way. Using Chaos Control in a cramped street squished between two buildings, next to a large and very stinky metal box filled to the brim with enough trash to make anyone throw up. It was a good thing there was nothing left in his stomach to puke. The only problem was he hadn't eaten anything in who knows how long by now.

So Silver kept on walking past the stinky box, using the ethereal glow of the Chaos Emerald to guide him through the twisting paths. He kept going, leaving all the fancy buildings, finding more stinky boxes, and ended up halfway across a bridge. Here in the outskirts of the city, everything was still and empty. It seemed everyone was still at the Festival. His ears prickled, catching the faint sizzle of the explosions the people of Soleanna apparently liked throwing into the sky.

The full moon reflected off the stream under the bridge, water undisturbed to the point of almost looking like a mirror. Quite a sight, yet Silver still didn't feel this was the best way to wrap this all up. Maybe there was supposed to be a moving speech, surrounded by the people he'd gotten to know over what felt both like the shortest and longest time in his life, and they could celebrate the victory and say goodbye or some other significant words, like "Enjoy your future!" or "Stay out of trouble kid". It didn't matter anymore. None of that was going to happen. _Even if it could, it still wouldn't feel right, not without..._

Now was a good moment to end this for good. Silver took a deep breath and focused.

"Ok, take me to the future. CHAOS CONTROL!"

And everything went white.

Literally.

"My eyes!" Silver hissed as he squeezed them shut and blindly stuck his hands out to block the scalding light. The first thing the hedgehog could make out of the deafening noise was someone behind announce, "The future is here!"

 _The future?_ Silver cracked his eyes open a fraction hesitantly, starting the process of getting used to the sudden brightness. The blinding white faded as he could finally make sense of what he was seeing. No one from the crowd noticed the silvery hedgehog that had popped out of nowhere and was spinning around with a gob-smacked look on his face. Had he stayed where he was and looked behind him, he would have seen the commercial playing from the multiple TVs on the window display in a store ending with "Get the all-new dream car of the year!"

"Wow! So this is the future…it's beautiful!" His golden eyes were wide open, unable to get enough of the tall buildings that went on forever to the darkening orange-pink-blue starless sky and the sparkling lights in every imaginable color and the sheer amount of people - talking, laughing, _living_ , not struggling to survive – everywhere.

Someone honked. "Move it weirdo!"

A monstrous metal thing barreled towards him. Silver regretted spinning. The ground wobbled under his boots. He barely managed to jump away as it whizzed by. His heart pounded. Silver didn't have time to calm down. People kept walking, unaware of the hedgehog below who was nearly trampled.

"Excuse me! I'm down here!" No one heard him. Silver managed to stand up. It was a short-lived victory. How he had room to spin around before was a mystery. Now all space was taken up by the massive crowd shifting around him, choking out the air and the buildings and the lights, New-York-rush-hour style. His lungs burned. Silver pushed through. People yelled what he was pretty sure were insults.

"I take it back! The future's horrible and everyone's so mean!"

* * *

The next morning, in a dingy apartment located in the more run-down part of Station Square, Espio was leaning against the wall quietly reading the newspaper when he heard it. The sound was repetitive for the most part, a cringing squish with some pops and snaps in between. Charmy was out for the time being getting the mail. It didn't take a genius to figure it out. The ninja lowered the newspaper and looked towards the only possible culprit.

Vector.

Lying back on his office chair with his eyes closed, the croc nodded off to the beat of the music that could be heard from across the room. But his horrible taste in music wasn't the problem. It was the bubblegum. Espio always knew Vector liked gum. But it was only today the chameleon actually noticed how _loud_ he chewed.

Not like it bothered him. It did not. Definitely. Ninjas did not get annoyed. Especially not by insignificant things like gum. It took more than that to wear his patience thin. More than the appalling shade of pink. Definitely more than the fact Vector chewed with his mouth open. Was it getting louder? It seemed as he kept thinking about how the gum _did not_ trouble him, the louder it got as all other sounds faded away until all he could hear was the chewing.

 _Chew._

 _Chew._

 _Smack!_

 _Squish._

Espio had long stopped reading, instead staring at the gum. The chewing stopped. He sighed in relief, feeling strangely content as if successfully passing some sort of test. Not like he felt the gum had tested him. It had not.

When Vector started blowing a bubble, the ninja was absolutely powerless to stop it. All he could do was watch as the bubble swelled. No….

Like it was trying to avoid the inevitable, time itself seemed to slow down. Then Espio realized time was not on his side. It was not enough that he had to put up with all this, instead the moment was being stretched out like the gum itself to be as unbearable as possible. _No._

Pop.

 _ **NO!**_

"Hey, ya mind if I borrow this?" Suddenly the top half of the paper was gone. Ripped out by none other than Vector himself. He spat the wad of gum onto the paper, wrapped it up, and chucked it to the trash can. Espio glared, wishing it to miss. It didn't.

"No. I do not." The ninja crushed the newspaper under his clenched fists. His left eye twitched.

"Thanks!" He reached for a new stick in the gum pack he always carried in his glove. Nothing. Frowning, Vector tried again. Still no gum. He took the pack out, flipped it upside-down and violently shook it. A measly paper wrapper drifted out. With something between a growl and a frustrated huff, Vector crushed the pack and tossed it to the trash. "Darn it! I'm out. Looks like I'll have to go buy more!"

"Vector." The chameleon neatly folded what was left of the newspaper. "Isn't there something else you could possibly use the money for?"

"Hmm…" He squinted, deep in thought. To Espio's dismay, he was so focused thinking that he was completely oblivious to the bills everywhere. On the floor. The beat up couch. Every inch of available space was covered by bills.

"Nope! Can't think of anything else."

Just as Espio was thinking the only way Vector _might_ get his point was if the answer hit him in the face, there was a buzz coming from outside. It was the only warning they got before Charmy crashed through the front door and smacked right onto the croc's face, throwing the mail up in the air.

The hyperactive bee grinned. "We got a pizza coupon!"

"Great, cuz I'm starving, now get off my face!"

"We also have a _few_ other things" The ninja picked up one envelope that stood out from the rest. Other than the coupon, it was the only thing that didn't have a big angry red OVERDUE slapped over the front. It was enough cause for suspicion. Espio sliced it open with a shuriken, pulled out the single page inside, and began to read.

"Charmy," He quietly said. "I think you dropped some mail outside. Go get it will you?"

The hyperactive bee chirped, "Okay!" and left. Knowing there wasn't much time before Charmy returned, he gestured at Vector to come over and passed him the paper.

His eyes widened. "Oh boy, that ain't good."

"We need to handle this with discretion." Vector simply nodded.

"I didn't find anything outside." Spotting his teammates standing together looking down at something, Charmy peered over their shoulders. "Hey, what'cha looking at?"

The ninja quickly closed the paper. "Well-"

"WE'RE GETTING KICKED OUT!"

 _So much for discretion…_

"What!? No, it can't be true! Right?" The bee looked like he was expecting this to be some sort of joke.

"It is an eviction notice. We have until Monday to pay the rent." Not quite the assurance Charmy needed and Espio knew it. _This is why you do not tell these type of things to 6 year olds…_

"Don't worry, we just gotta figure out a way to get the dough and fast." Vector snapped his fingers. "Oh! Maybe we can try the band thing again."

Espio shuddered at _that_ particular memory. When it came to Vector's get-rich-quick schemes, all were bad ideas, but this one had taken it to a whole new level of catastrophically bad.

"Or," Espio cut in. "Perhaps try something more...promising." _Not to mention dignified_ , the ninja thought.

"Like what?" Charmy asked.

Vector scratched his head. "Yeah, whaddaya mean?"

"Well, for instance, today I read in the newspaper that the city is offering a big reward for anyone who can turn in Dr. Eggman to the authorities."

When Dr. Eggman attacked Station Square, the aftermath cost millions in public property damage, not to mention the citizens grumbling over the increased taxes to pay off reparations. Espio knew they were paying utmost attention when their pupils literally morphed into golden money signs as an inexplicable _ka-ching_ rang throughout the apartment.

The detective flashed a toothy grin. "Boys, we've got ourselves a new case to crack! We're gonna catch Dr. Eggman, get filthy rich and-" He froze, falling abnormally silent for a long moment.

"My Miss Vanilla sense is tingling."

Espio blinked. "I'm sorry, what?"

But by then the croc had jumped out the apartment on the 3rd floor, leaving his outline in what remained of the wall.

* * *

If it was up to Silver, he wouldn't leave this place. It was a relief to have found a peaceful place with things he was a little more familiar with. Trees, grass, clear blue skies and the space to move freely without bumping into everyone. In fact, there wasn't a lot of people here, another relief. But it wasn't a good idea to stay, not after what he'd done. The young hedgehog slowly chewed, staring at his boots and feeling the lump in his throat that was making it hard to swallow. Hunger wasn't new to him. It always toppled the sudden loss of appetite whenever he managed to get a meal.

 _At least I didn't take a lot, surely it won't affect them…right?_ It was too late to return the half-eaten food, all he could do was promise to make it up somehow.

Silver was at the very edge of the green place, facing the great big buildings and the people and the large metal things on wheels. He took a deep breath, counted to 10 in his head, and took the first step-only to bump into someone.

"Sorry, I-" Silver looked up and did a double-take. " _Sonic!?_ You're in the future too?"

That's when he choked on his food.

* * *

Apparently, Soleanna was based off Venice, Italy. For this story, I've decided that while Soleanna _isn't_ Venice, it is located where Venice is. Likewise, I'm basing Station Square's _location_ off New York City. There's a 6 hour difference between real-life New York City and Venice.

A time in Soleanna (Venice), say 2 AM, is only 8 PM in Station Square (New York City) when the sun's almost completely set.


	2. Chapter 2

My plan was for this story to be 3 chapters. But as I worked on Chapter 2, it just kept getting longer and longer, so I decided to split it.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy!

* * *

It was a start of another day at Station Square. Birds were chirping, people stuck in traffic banged their heads against their steering wheels in desperation, and Dr. Eggman still hadn't launched another attack. All in all, a good day.

At the park in the center of the city, a lot of events were happening. On one end, Sonic and Tails were trying to prevent Silver from choking to death. On the opposite side was Vector charging towards the park with his confused teammates going after him. He had one and only one thought in his mind. _Miss Vanilla._

"What has gotten into you?" Espio demanded.

"I told you! My Miss Vanilla sense! She's in danger!"

"There! I see her!" Charmy pointed.

Vector barreled towards Miss Vanilla, knocking down trees and smashing picnics underneath without a care, leaving Espio with the unwanted task of apologizing to every angry bystander as he tried to keep up with the croc before he inevitably did something really stupid.

"Hang on Miss Vanilla! Oh, and Cream too." He added with much less enthusiasm, noticing the younger rabbit.

If Miss Vanilla was weirded out by Vector's rather loud entrance, she must have decided not to mention it and in her typical politeness smiled. "Why, good morning Vector. Say hello Cream."

"Hello Mr. Vector." Her daughter dutifully greeted.

"Yeah, hey kid." Vector mumbled. It's not like he hated the kid, just that his focus was entirely on Miss Vanilla. "So I was just taking a stroll and uh, noticed you had a-a-a problem. I figured I should drop by and help."

Mentally, Vector groaned at how stupid that sounded. It was too late to do anything now. He held his breath, hoping he hadn't blown it.

Miss Vanilla blinked her big brown eyes. "Oh, that's very nice of you. Well, I don't want to consider it a problem, it's just I saw someone steal one of my sandwiches a moment ago."

"Yes!" He fist pumped the air. His Miss Vanilla sense was never wrong, even if it didn't get more specific beyond telling him whenever Miss Vanilla was in any kind of danger and her general location.

"I beg your pardon?"

"I mean, ' _yes'_ I see. So, sandwich robbery, ey? Sounds like a case for the Chaotix! Charmy, tape me."

"Okay!" The bee zipped around Vector, wrapping him up head to toe in police tape with a crooked bow on top.

"Not me, the crime scene! Seriously, you're making me look bad in front of Miss Vanilla!" He hissed under his breath.

"Oops, sorry." Charmy quickly undid his work and closed off Miss Vanilla's picnic in the bright yellow tape.

The croc flashed Miss Vanilla a toothy grin. "Ha, kids am I right? Now where was I?"

Before she could reply, Espio cut in. "Vector, a moment please." The ninja inconspicuously gave a nod directing away from Miss Vanilla as he slowly took a step back, waiting for Vector to get the idea. _Private conversation. Now._

"Great! You're done investigating the crime scene. Could you excuse us a moment? This is uh, important detective stuff."

She nodded courteously. "Of course."

Vector fumbled to get under the tape, whereas Espio had no trouble getting outside the 'crime scene'.

"Listen, we already have a case remember? One that actually..." The chameleon paused for dramatic effect, " _pays._ "

The crocodile gasped, absolutely horrified. "How can you be so _selfish_ to think of money when Miss Vanilla is suffering? I mean, you're acting as if this is the example _I_ , as leader of the Chaotix Detective Agency, give you."

Vector often wore thick gold chain necklaces. Today he was wearing one that had a prominent money sign swinging under his thick neck, the obnoxious shine practically blinding the ninja. _Really Vector, really?_

He headed back to the crime scene. In that moment, Espio knew he had failed in convincing Vector to not waste valuable time solving something that barely qualified as a crime.

"Miss Vanilla, I'll gladly find that thief for you." He declared.

"Oh no, that's alright." Miss Vanilla insisted. "I wouldn't want to bother you."

"No ma'am! No matter how far I have to go or how long it takes me, I won't eat, I won't rest, and I won't ever stop!" By now Vector was really getting into his inspirational speech, and people at the park were stopping whatever they were doing and turning towards the croc. Either they were confused or annoyed that he was yelling at the top of his lungs. Most had their phones out.

"Alright, we get the idea." Espio said. But Vector wasn't done.

"No, not while that culinary mastermind is on the loose and striking fear into the heart of this city! But I promise I will catch that lunch-stealing criminal in the name of justice, freedom, and picnics!" He threw a fist in the air. "Who's with me?"

"Shut up you weirdo!" Someone from the park hollered.

Undeterred, Vector ran off with a new mission to complete, Charmy not far behind.

Espio slapped his forehead. "This is going to end badly."

Inside the crime scene, Cream tugged her mother's skirt. "Mama, how long do we have to stay in here?"

* * *

"Look, Silver," Tails began hesitantly. "I don't know how to break it to you but..."

"You're not in the future." Sonic said.

"Well, that's one way."

"But I used Chaos Control to get to my time!" Silver showed them the blue Chaos Emerald.

Sonic quirked an eyebrow. "With one Chaos Emerald?" It was a genuine question, but Silver felt like an idiot nonetheless.

"Mephiles could time travel using one." It was, after all, how the demi-god sent Blaze and him to the past. "I thought I could do it too."

Alright, in hindsight, Silver hadn't thought his plan out very well.

"Nope." Sonic shook his head. "You need two or it doesn't work."

"Then I'll have to find another Chaos Emerald." Silver decided, feeling more confident now that he had an even _better_ plan than before. _Get another one, then go_ _home for real this time. How hard can it be?_

Tails unknowingly answered that question when he tapped his chin thoughtfully and remarked. "By now the Chaos Emeralds could be anywhere on Mobius, it's going to be hard trying to find them again."

That burst of confidence? Gone. Crushed. Shriveled up as fast as it had come. _Of course it wouldn't be that easy._ Silver clutched the blue gem, briefly thinking how he got it. "Tell me about it…"

He was honestly so caught up remembering that experience that he almost didn't hear Tails continue saying, "…you know who might have a Chaos Emerald already? Dr. Eggman."

"Yeah, I don't know how he does it, but Baldy McNosehair always has at least one locked up in his lair."

For some reason, Sonic and Tails cracked up. "Ha! Baldy McNosehair, good one Sonic!" They shared a high-five.

"I don't get it…" Silver quietly said.

"Because he's _bald_ , and his mustache looks like it's coming out of his nose." Tails explained, still giggling.

"Oh." He still didn't laugh.

"Anyways" Sonic cleared his throat. "We're going to see what Egghead's up to and stop whatever scheme he's got going on. In fact, why don't you tag along? You might find that Chaos Emerald you need."

It really wasn't a hard decision to make. They left the park to head towards where Tails had the Tornado, missing completely when Vector and Charmy popped out a second later.

Charmy's face was scrunched up, before lighting up. "Oh! Oh, I got it! Lord Lettuce!"

"No."

"Captain Crust!"

"Nah." Vector waved off that suggestion as well.

"Ketchup!"

"No-" He paused. "Hmm. That one's got potential. Hey Espio, what do you think?"

"I think that instead of wasting time thinking of names, we should instead focus on apprehending the thief."

"Hey, you can't catch a crook without a _catchy_ name." Charmy grinned, a ba-dum-tsss resonating in the air, the infamous noise that followed after any bad joke or pun. It was one of those things that just happened and no one questioned, like where Mobians stored their things when they didn't have pockets.

"Kid's gotta point. It's a crucial step. I mean, what if it's the biggest case we've ever done? We'll be famous cuz of this!"

"No, it's just a guy who stole a sandwich who you only want to go after in an attempt to impress Miss Vanilla." Espio said flatly. "I want to make it very clear from the start I have no desire to waste time on such a pointless task, but if this is the only way we can get back to _real_ work, I rather find the sandwich thief soon."

"Wait." Vector stopped walking completely. "What did ya say?"

Espio turned around. "The… sandwich thief?"

"Yeah, yeah! I like it. Nice ring to it." Vector nodded. "Just put caps on it. The Sandwich Thief. Now that's front page material right there!"

"Unbelievable." The ninja shook his head in dismay. "But fine. _Fine._ You have the name. Now what do you plan on doing next?"

"Uh…" Vector and Charmy shared guilty looks.

Espio frowned. "Well. While you two ran off, I got a lead. I asked Miss Vanilla to describe" He sighed at their expectant looks. "The Sandwich Thief. She claims she saw a white hedgehog."

"Did Miss Vanilla say anything about me?" Vector blurted.

Espio gave him a long level look.

"Right." He coughed. "Great work! Now all we have to do is go find that hedgehog. It'll be a piece of cake!"

* * *

Will it really be that easy to find one guy in a giant city? Is Silver going to find the Chaos Emerald at Dr. Eggman's lair and go home? I'll have Chapter 3 uploaded in two weeks, so stay tuned and find out what happens next!


	3. Chapter 3

I should have uploaded this a very long time ago, but that pesky little thing called life happened. Sorry about that.

Now on to the story!

* * *

 _I meant it when I said finding The Sandwich Thief would be a piece of cake._

 _Just thinking about cake was making me hungrier than…something that's really hungry._

 _But it's like I always say…_

"No case gets solved on an empty stomach." Vector finished saying out loud as the food was brought to their table.

In reality, he had been talking the whole time. He usually did this when working on a case, having picked up the habit from watching too many film noirs. It'd been a few hours since they started going through Station Square in the search of someone who fitted Miss Vanilla's description of a white hedgehog. But eventually, the hunger overcame Vector's stubbornness to keep searching and he reluctantly agreed to stop for a bite at a little Chun-Nan restaurant.

"You never say that." Charmy pointed out from the other side of the table. Since he didn't know how to use chopsticks, the six year old was instead using a chopstick to stab a dumpling, only for it to slip out every time.

"Yeah I do! I say it all the time." Vector claimed, his way of eating involving no chopsticks at all. Instead, like the sixteen plates that preceded this one, he poured all the food in his mouth.

Sitting next to Charmy, Espio grimaced and quietly ate with considerably more dignity and grace than his comrades.

"No you don't!"

"Do too!"

"Do not!"

The people, including the waiter serving them, at the establishment were starting to give them weird looks.

"You know." The ninja interjected before the childish argument escalated. "Miss Vanilla also mentioned there was one of Dr. Eggman's robots with the white hedgehog."

Charmy once again failed to stab the elusive dumpling and looked up at the chameleon, eyes squinted in suspicion.

"Wait, then why didn't you say so before-OW!" Espio kicked the bee under the table and gave him a warning side look.

The croc noticed none of that, guzzling down the water in one big gulp before slamming the glass on the table with almost enough force to shatter it. "An accomplice?

Of course! I should've known Dr. Eggman was involved. Looks like we'll have to pay the doctor a little visit. We might find more clues on The Sandwich Thief."

" _Yes_!" Espio said a little too quickly. "We _will_ find more clues, we should definitely go there." He did not like having to resort to lying in order to avoid being evicted. But even if he thought going after someone who had stolen a sandwich was a waste of time, he did have every intention of catching the white hedgehog. _After_ getting the reward for Dr. Eggman's capture.

The bill was slapped on the table. Vector's eyes bulged at the price. Charmy was more interested in the fortune cookies that came along and snatched them all in a blink of an eye.

"Oh. _Right_ , the bill. Sure buddy, let me just get my wallet." Vector slowly reached behind him before sucker punching the waiter. "RUN FOR IT!" He jumped off the seat, almost trampling the unconscious waiter as he made a mad dash to the door.

Charmy easily evaded capture and zipped outside with an armful of cookies. Espio sighed and followed suit, but not before placing two rings on the table in a sort of apologetic gesture. They didn't stop running until the angry restaurant owner had stopped chasing them with a broom. Vector collapsed on the nearest bench, sprawling across the whole thing.

"Whew! That was close!" Charmy gasped, eagerly breaking his fortune cookies to get the pieces of paper out.

Espio pulled out a pen and a note pad. "That makes thirty-six restaurants we can never go back to." He checked it off.

"If we're going to catch The Sandwich Thief, we'll need to go to Dr. Eggman's lair." Vector said, standing up from the bench. "But first, we gotta get out of the city stage and fast."

* * *

Flight wasn't new to Silver. However, this was the first time he was airborne without concentrating his telekinesis on himself and it honestly wasn't too bad. It was nice to feel the warm sun and the wind rustle his quills. He gripped the edge of the left wing with one hand, not having the confidence to stand up like Sonic was on the right wing of the plane. Silver absently finished the food he was holding with his free hand, too engrossed with the view to care much about the food.

"Yo Tails! We almost at Egghead's lair or what?" Sonic hollered, sneaker tapping incessantly in his signature impatience.

"Yup, just a little while longer now!"

Everything was going along perfectly. If he was a more paranoid type, he'd go as far to say it was going along _too_ perfectly. But he wasn't.

Silver sucked in another deep breath of crisp clean air and smiled. _This time tomorrow, and I'll finally be back home!_

* * *

There were plenty of rumors about the Commander's office. Some said it was filled with unspeakable horrors. Others suggested it wasn't even an office, but a sort of torture dungeon where those who had failed the Commander in any way from a mission to the preparation of his pitch black coffee were dragged to, never to be heard from again. Of course, that only came from the agents who had never seen The Office in person, which, come to think of it, was practically everyone.

Except the Lieutenant. In this precise moment the right-hand man of the Commander was outside knocking frantically. "Sir! This is urgent."

"It darn better be." The Commander grouched. "You interrupted me as I was running through Tactical Scenarios. Now what do you want?"

The sound of multiple locks opening up was the cue that he had permission to come inside, which he promptly did. The office was plain, devoid of any decorations or personal items. The blinds were tightly closed and the AC was set to sub-zero temperatures. All it really needed was a board with pins, newspaper clippings and sticky notes interconnected with red yarn to look like the office belonged to a paranoid conspiracy lunatic.

"Sir." The Lieutenant only barely stopped himself from chattering. "Radars are picking up a UFO heading this way and fast. Should we attempt communication sir?"

"Oh heck no!" The Commander slammed a fist on the desk. "This is exactly how the alien invasion last year started Lieutenant. And did you say UFO?"

"Yes sir? Regardless." Lieutenant decided to continue before things spiraled out of hand. "If there's a chance it is one of our own, a civilian, or one of those camera drones the kids are using these days sir-"

The Commander sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Lieutenant, Lieutenant, Lieutenant." He tsked. "What is our updated policy in _unidentified flying objects_?"

"Er…" The Lieutenant racked his brain. The Commander kept changing the policy every two weeks out of paranoia. "Shoot it first without question and cover it up under conspiracy, sir?" _Dang it, I think that was last week's policy!_

"Exactly, so shoot it down already! Bombs, missiles, I don't care, just take care of it!"

"Yes sir, right away sir." He saluted and swiftly scampered off to the much warmer base, the door being locked tightly behind him.

"Finally. Peace and quiet." The Commander pulled out from a drawer plastic action figures of Shadow, the current president, and himself holding a handgun. "Re-initiating Tactical Scenario #237. Pew! Pew! Take that." He expertly shot down Shadow, leaving him on his back bleeding out.

"Oh no, if I hadn't turned good, you would've beaten me with no difficulty at all because you're so awesome. Blegh…" And with that final dying groan, the black hedgehog with the pathetic voice was down for good.

"Commander." The President began. "The country thanks you for your bravery and coolness."

The Commander blew the smoke out the barrel of the gun and put it back on the holster in one smooth motion. "All in a day's work Mr. President."

"I can't believe I was almost going to pick Shadow as my best friend, clearly you've proven yourself to be better than him in every way. Now how do you want the giant statue in your honor to be posed?"

* * *

"Sonic, we've got company closing in and fast." Tails warned, spotting several blips on the Tornado's radar.

The blue speedster turned around to see sleek gunmetal gray jets in tight formation in the distance. "It's cool, it's just G.U.N."

"What's that?" Silver asked, looking over his shoulder.

"G.U.N stands for Guardian Units of Nations. It's a military organization that protects Mobius from major threats." The fox informed, before remarking. "Though to be honest, _we_ usually end up doing that anyways."

Sonic shrugged. "Yep. That's pretty much how we spend our time."

"There's a lot of G.U.N's coming." Silver quietly said.

Tails gave the radar another glance. To his horror, the blips had multiplied, with several whizzing faster to their position than the original blips right as Sonic yelled.

"Missiles!"

* * *

Once again, I had to split the chapter to keep it from getting too long and I decided to end it at this cliffhanger. I apologize again for taking so long to update.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed!


	4. Chapter 4

The missiles were too fast and going to impact. Then the projectiles veered off, some going the completely wrong direction. They all shared a moment of confused _what-just-happened_ and relieved _we're-still-in-one-piece_ silence.

"That wasn't me." Silver felt the urge to clarify, even though the lack of a cyan aura around the missiles must have made it obvious he wasn't responsible anyways. He barely had time to grasp that missiles were bad and get over the momentary cold realization that they were in _danger_ when the missiles...missed.

"Huh. Then those guys have really bad aim." Sonic squinted, trying to see the jets better.

"We got lucky." Tails corrected, a grim look on his face. He was not going to be caught off guard again. "It's not like they're shooting in random directions."

* * *

The communicator ear-piece in every pilot's helmet crackled as the Lieutenant barked from the base. "Remember your training! Shoot in random directions, eventually one of us is going to hit the intruder." He thought about it, and added. "And someone get me a visual!"

"Sir, yes sir!" The pilots said in perfect military unison. They fired again.

A sharp shrill whistle was the telling sign more missiles were coming.

"Keep it steady Tails! Hey Silver, think you can grab some of them?"

Silver was more used to unmoving things like barrels. Or much larger things like the rocks Iblis would throw at him. Missiles were fast and small, the complete opposite of how he usually operated. But the last time he used his telekinesis was when he fought Solaris…

He gave a single nod. "Yeah."

…and missiles were no god of sun.

* * *

From an old storage closet turned makeshift office, since _apparently_ the budget was too tight to get him an actual office, the Lieutenant informed the Commander via walkie-talkie. "Sir, the intruder is fighting back."

"YES!" The Commander exclaimed with too much enthusiasm. If the Lieutenant didn't know better, he'd say the Commander _wanted_ the intruder to fight back. "You know what they say Lieutenant, nothing better justifies us blowing something up than an unprovoked act of violence."

"Sir." The Lieutenant flatly pointed out. "We attacked first."

"UNPROVOKED!"

* * *

When it came down to it, they could really work together. Sonic was going with his Homing Attack, Tails used the Tornado's own weaponry, and Silver relied on his powers. It was all going good when more missiles came. Many, many more. Sonic would destroy one, only for three to replace it. Tails gave up shooting, having to do tighter and tighter maneuvers. Silver did what he could, but it was impossible to catch every missile.

The wing, the one he was standing on, disappeared in a flare of white. Silver saw himself, falling away from the Tornado. His heart thumped. He could barely hear it over the sharp ringing. Silver reached out, barely catching the very end of the Tornado. The left wing had been blown clean off, and what was left was on fire. There wasn't even time to shout a warning or share a horrified look before the Tornado spiraled into a free-fall.

* * *

The Lieutenant didn't want to do it, but knew he didn't have a choice. _This is definitely coming out of my paycheck._ He grabbed the walkie-talkie. "Sir, we have confirmed the identity of two of the three intruders as Sonic and Tails."

"Sweet Uncle Sam, cease firing immediately!" The Commander barked.

"They have already been successfully shot down. Per _your_ orders, sir." He couldn't help but remind the Commander that this was all his fault.

"Let's not get into details of who ordered what Lieutenant. The important thing is that this is precisely why our policy is to _always_ attempt communications first."

 _That wasn't the policy five minutes ago!_ "Sir, that's what I-"

"Should've done instead of shooting like a madman, that's right Lieutenant." The Commander finished off. There was no point in protesting. In GUN, when things didn't go right and the Commander didn't want the media to find out, it was the Lieutenant's job to deal with the paperwork and make it all disappear.

"Say, who's the third intruder?" The Commander inquired.

"Unknown sir. Appears to be a white hedgehog, but our databanks provide no matches to his identity."

* * *

Tails was up to his elbows in the Tornado's engine. "Good news is, we're not that far from Eggman's lair."

"Awesome! Just what I like to hear buddy." Sonic grinned.

Silver knew next to nothing about planes, but he was pretty sure the big piece that fell off with a clang was important, judging by how Tails' winced.

"Bad news is, it's going to take some time before I can get the Tornado up and running again." The fox patted the side of the plane.

"Not awesome." His smile dropped. "How much time are we talking about?"

"A few hours I think." He wandered off to the other side of the Tornado where the wing was blown off.

"You've got to be kidding me." Sonic groaned, his sneaker starting to tap incessantly.

Tails briefly tinkered, before frowning, as if something wasn't right with whatever he was working on. "Hmm. Silver, can you come look at this?"

"Uh…sure." Silver barely made it around when Tails yanked him down.

"Keep Sonic distracted until I fix the Tornado. _Please_." He quietly pleaded, looking so desperate Silver knew he couldn't say no, though he didn't have a clue how he was supposed to distract Sonic.

"I-I'll do what I can." Silver said, getting up and heading back around where Sonic was. It hadn't been a minute yet, and the blue hedgehog was already pacing.

 _Right. Distract. I can do that. How hard can it be? I just need to talk to Sonic. Yeah, nothing like a good long conversation. He's an easy-going guy, he'll be talking in no time._

"Hey Sonic. You were pretty good back there with the missiles." There was really nothing like praise to get someone bragging.

"Guess I was." He shrugged.

Silver waited, but when it was clear Sonic wasn't going to say anything else, he blurted. "I bet you go on adventures all the time."

Very interesting, dangerous, and long adventures that Silver would genuinely like to hear. Except all Sonic said was "I do, yeah."

Silver had run out of things to say, and Sonic's attention was waning by the second. The nearly white hedgehog looked around the GUN base, hoping something would give him an idea. _Hold on. The GUN base. GUN. That's it!_

"If GUN is supposed to stop threats like Dr. Eggman, why don't they ever do that?"

The blue speedster didn't have the chance to reply, because someone else beat him to it.

"Because it's my sworn duty as Commander to not do anything." The Commander said as he marched towards them. There was something about him that said very loudly he was an important person and it made Silver stand up a little straighter.

"If we actually did our job, we'd avert several catastrophes." He continued. "Games would be over before they even began, and then where would we all be? No, for the future of the franchise, we must not take action."

Silver honestly tried to pay attention, but as the guy kept on talking about duty and honor, he couldn't help but notice the Commander had his back towards him.

 _It's probably to look more dramatic_ , Silver supposed. _I…I feel like its rude, but what do I know? Maybe that's just how people of the past talk to someone. So does that mean I've been offending everyone I've talked to in the past?_

"-with all the collateral damage, we can raise taxes as much as we want. Gives us funds on the important things, like building nukes."

"That…surprisingly makes a lot of sense. In a counterintuitive way." Tails popped out from under the Tornado and immediately banged his head. He looked up in confusion. The wing was magically reset in its place thanks to cartoon logic. "How did that… wait, did you say nukes?"

"But that's not why I'm here." The Commander turned around. "Sonic, I'd like to apologize on behalf of the Lieutenant. As he also did with Metal Sonic and Shadow in the previous games, the Lieutenant resorted to a drastic call of action over a simple case of mistaken identity."

Sonic cleared his throat. "I'm over here."

* * *

The high chain-link fence was the first defense a typical GUN base had. There would be a couple heavily guarded entrances determining who got to pass through. The fence was topped with barbed wire and was patrolled 24/7. Even if someone got past the fence, there were sentry towers located everywhere, sharp eyes and bright spotlights on the lookout for intruders.

Something was off. They had waited a long time, hiding behind trees, yet no one showed up patrolling the fence. Still, Espio wasn't letting his guard down.

"I do not think this is a good idea."

"You're right. It's a _great_ idea! We'll get to Dr. Eggman way faster. Then all we have to do is catch the Sandwich Thief, get rich and famous, and go on a date with Miss Vanilla!" Vector paused. "Uh. You didn't hear that last part."

"The sign says we'll be shot on sight." Espio pointed out.

"Sign? What sign? Charmy, do you see a sign?" He quickly asked, undeniably trying to change the subject.

"I can't read."

"See? The kid gets it. It'll be fine." Vector assured as he confidently strolled to the fence and ripped a large enough opening for him to pass through. Nothing. No GUN soldiers, no gunfire. Absolutely nothing happened when he made it to the other side.

Seeing there was no way to change Vector's mind, Espio vanished without a sound. Between Charmy's buzzing and Vector's horrible attempt of not stomping, it was a mystery they hadn't been spotted yet. Then the mystery started to unravel as the further they went in. Pieces of trees scattered about, followed by entire trees snapped in half, then a deep gouge in the ground. Smoke billowed out, the base and a few sentry towers partially destroyed where the gouge ended. It almost looked like-

"Wow, this place is a dump." Charmy bluntly said.

"Charmy!" Espio whispered with a frown. He hoped there wasn't a GUN soldier around, though it seemed most personnel were occupied dealing with the destruction.

You'd think he wouldn't be all that concerned with getting caught, since the Chaotix were on relatively good terms with GUN. But taking into account how many times GUN would try to shoot or arrest _Sonic_ of all people when they had the slightest suspicion...

GUN didn't think of them of enemies, but that could change very fast. Either they'd be shot, or at least, be sent for a life sentence on Prison Island.

 _Vector, if we die out here because of a_ _ **sandwich**_ _, I'm blaming you._

"It's true! What do you think happened here?" He gasped, before whispering. "Was it the Sandwich Thief?" Charmy shot wide-eyed glances around, like he was expecting the mysterious criminal to pop out of nowhere.

Vector shook his head. "Nah, M.O isn't the same. Perp usually does way worse sandwich-related crimes than this. Besides, if he _was_ responsible, I'd know. Nothing gets over me."

He, like Espio and Charmy, was completely oblivious that the Tornado was flying high up in the sky going right over him.

* * *

The sleek white tower that was Dr. Eggman's lair was a stark contrast to the jagged black island. Glowing red lava poured out into veins all throughout the island until hitting the ocean, producing a constant hiss. In the time Silver spent in the past, he had seen a lot of different places. This was the first place that reminded him of Crisis City, with the volcano and the lava. It was uncomfortable to realize that even in the past, without _Iblis_ , there could be somewhere that was like his apocalyptic future.

Silver was shaken from his thoughts at the sound of explosions. Tails pushed some buttons, and fired again at the lair, creating a large hole. He got out of his seat. "I've set the Tornado on auto-pilot! Come on!"

They jumped off the plane, falling through the ceiling. Sonic landed first, in a classic super-hero pose and declared. "Eggman! We're here to stop you!"

Dr. Eggman was in a fuzzy pink onesie on the couch, surrounded by bowls of food, and watching a giant screen. He looked up at the hole in the ceiling. "I'm not even going to bother fixing that. You'll just break it again."

Silver spotted two robots nearby Eggman and instinctively caught them with his psychokinesis.

"Wait Silver! That's Orbot and Cubot!"

"So? They're Eggman's robots!" Silver honestly couldn't figure out why Tails didn't want him to destroy those two robots.

"True, but they've been personified to the point that destroying them would be as traumatizing as when Princess Elise brought Sonic back to life with a-" He slapped a hand over his mouth, eyes wide.

"Wait, what did she do?" Bewildered, Sonic looked over his shoulder at the fox.

"Nothing. Anyways, you should let them go before they fry."

"Alright." Silver dropped the two robots, leaving them sizzling and smoking.

"Howdy! It'd be smelling like robo-barbeque up in here!"

"Oh dear, I think you'll need to replace your voice-chip Cubot."

"Can you keep it down? I'm trying to watch the season finale." Eggman grumbled, grabbing a handful of triangles covered in yellow-orange goo. Some spilled on his outfit, but he didn't seem to care.

"Geez, what's with Egghead?" Sonic thumbed over his shoulder.

"Well, after Dr. Eggman's latest plan fails, he goes through the five stages of grief." Orbot informed. "Currently, he's in depression."

"You mean he's just been binge-watching TV, in his pajamas, not planning anything evil?" Tails asked.

"I'm right here you know, but I guess my existence is so meaningless I'm not even noticed." He sank into the couch. "I could disappear right now and no one would care."

"…I believe that is a sufficient answer." Orbot simply said.

"Listen. Dr. Eggman, I have to get back to my time." Silver pulled out his blue Chaos Emerald, interesting the villain enough to look at him and not the TV. "But I need a second Chaos Emerald. I was hoping you'd have it." He almost wanted to say that he'd be willing to take it by force if necessary, but Dr. Eggman looked too miserable to put up a fight.

* * *

Charmy collapsed face first on the shore with a muffled "Ow."

Taking a deep breath, Vector squared his shoulders and grinned. "Alright, we're here!"

"Yes," Espio agreed, "and we are not doing that again."

It'd been a nightmare having to hope Charmy wouldn't accidently drop them in the middle of the ocean. Not to mention, the physical exertion of having to hang on to the bee with Vector holding on to him. It was only his dignity that kept him standing. The ninja eyed the black lava rock. _It does look very comfortable…_

"C'mon boys, look alive." Vector clapped twice, like that was supposed to revitalize them. "We've got a doctor to talk to and a thief to catch!"

A groan was Charmy's response.

Espio glared. It was downright insulting how happy and energetic Vector was. _The least he could do is be a little tired_ , the chameleon thought sourly.

The Chaotix leader caught sight of the Tornado, innocuously parked right outside the lair.

"Well, well, well. Looks like someone else got here first."

* * *

"I don't have one. Check through my lair if you don't believe me, I don't care. Just let me binge-watch my show in peace." With that, Dr. Eggman had another huge spoonful of ice-cream.

Silver was speechless. He was absolutely convinced there would be another Chaos Emerald at Dr. Eggman's lair it never occurred to him of the possibility it _wouldn't_ be here. Sonic and Tails were talking to him, probably asking if he was okay. Silver didn't hear them. Wasn't it enough he helped save the world? Wasn't it enough Blaze had to sacrifice herself?

 _I just want to go home…_

"Watch out!" Sonic warned, before he shoved Tails and Silver out of the way right as three individuals jumped from the hole in the ceiling.

"Oh great. More visitors." Dr. Eggman groaned. No one paid him any attention.

"Vector, what are you doing here?" Sonic asked.

Silver didn't have a clue who they were, but if Sonic recognized them and wasn't fighting, then these strangers couldn't be enemies…right?

Vector narrowed his eyes. "I outta ask you the same thing _Sonic_ , or should I say, TRAITOR!"

* * *

I'm excited to announce that this is the second to last chapter. Unless Chapter 5 gets so long I have to split it, but I'm pretty sure that won't happen. Probably.


	5. Chapter 5

"Ya better explain yourself!" Vector demanded.

Sonic barely had the chance to make a confused _huh_ before Vector snapped. "No! I don't wanna hear what ya gotta say. I should've _known_. It was all right there in front of my face."

"Look, I seriously don't know what you're talking about." The speedster said.

"Don't lie to me!" He then looked at Silver, "And _you_ , how could you?"

"I…" It was clear whoever this was knew him at some degree, but for the life of him Silver couldn't remember ever meeting this guy before. "I'm sorry, who are you?"

"Vector. The brains, brawn, and charismatically good-looking leader of the Chaotix Detective Agency. And this is Charmy and Espio." Vector added with considerably less flair than his own introduction, pointing at them respectively.

Dr. Eggman raised a hand. "Excuse me, since you've all invited yourselves in _and I'll clearly not be able to watch my show in peace_ ," He grumbled, turning off the TV. "Does anyone mind explaining what's going on?"

"This morning my Miss Vanilla sense was triggered." Vector had barely begun and Silver already had several questions. _Who's Miss Vanilla? Also, what's a Miss Vanilla sense? More importantly, what does this have to do with calling Sonic a traitor?_ He decided not to interrupt, and hoped that he'd get answers soon.

"…according to Miss Vanilla's testimony, the Sandwich Thief was a _white_ hedgehog seen with one of Dr. Eggman's robots at the Station Square Park. Remind you of _anyone_?" He stressed, looking directly at Silver.

"Silver was at the park and had a sandwich." Tails paused. "I don't remember seeing a robot…"

"So what? It doesn't prove Silver is The Sandwich Thief!" Sonic pointed out. "I mean, it's not like he walked up and stole that sandwich while no one was looking."

"Actually…that's exactly what I did." Silver softly said, looking down at his boots.

Vector pointed triumphantly, like a lawyer with a solid winning case in the court. "Aha, a confession from the guilty!"

"Wow. This has much more drama than My So-Called Life." Dr. Eggman said, getting another handful of popcorn.

"Of course," The crocodile continued, "I've been a detective long enough to know a case is never that clear cut. I knew I was missing something, but it wasn't until we arrived at the lair and spotted the Tornado that the pieces started to fall into place…"

 _Flashback…_

It was impossible not to notice the Tornado in its bright glossy red glory. It painfully stuck out from the black lava rock and gleaming white lair.

"The Tornado? What's it doing here?" Charmy asked, approaching the bi-plane.

"That's what I plan on finding out." Vector replied. "It's odd that it just _happens_ to be right here as we're investigating."

"It could just be a coincidence." Espio suggested as he followed the crocodile, really hoping this wouldn't tie back to the Sandwich Thief. _Not when we're so close to getting the reward money…_

"Maybe. But might as well check it out real quick." Vector then gasped, eyes wide like he had seen something absolutely horrible. The ninja followed his gaze to what he was looking at.

It was a little yellow stain, whatever it was long dried. It was sticking to the edge of the left wing of the bi-plane. The crocodile came closer to inspect the stain, looking at it from different angles. He leaned in and inhaled deep with a contemplative _hmm…_

His tongue shot out, the tip flicking at the yellow stain a long time to the disgust of his teammates.

"Mustard." He finally said, smacking his lips. "Homemade by Miss Vanilla."

Espio gave him a suspicious, slightly disturbed look. "Exactly how would you know-"

"Which means this mustard is from Miss Vanilla's stolen sandwich!" Vector exclaimed. "The Sandwich Thief must've been on the Tornado at some point. But how did he get there in the first place?"

 _Present…_

"Then it hit me."

"What?" Everyone, except Espio and Charmy, asked as they unconsciously leaned forward.

Vector pointed at Sonic and Tails. "That you're all are working with Dr. Eggman!"

"Now hold it right there!" Sonic clenched his hands to fists, quills bristling at the accusation.

"Y'know the Sandwich Thief. You also _conveniently_ took him straight here right after the crime was committed." He stated. "Coincidence? I don't think so."

"That makes no sense!" Tails protested. "Why do you think we'd ever work with Dr. Eggman? Over a _sandwich_?"

"You tell me, you're the criminal mastermind here." Vector snidely said.

 _This is not how things were supposed to turn out._ Was all Espio could think.

With his lie, they'd go to Dr. Eggman's lair and hand him over to the authorities. Naturally the doctor would, in a rare case of true honesty, deny association with The Sandwich Thief. Naturally Vector wouldn't believe him. They'd turn him in to the authorities and get the reward. After avoiding the eviction, Espio would find The Sandwich Thief to make up for his deception. That and because he knew Vector would never stop until he was caught.

That had been his plan. Simple. Efficient. Flawless. Except in an ironic twist, it seemed that his attempt to temporarily avoid The Sandwich Thief had just dropped them off right on his trail. _One often meets his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it._

It was one thing was to live knowing he had betrayed his sense of honor for the sake of not ending up on the street, and another to stand by and watch as Sonic and Tails suffered the consequences of his lie. Before Espio could confess what he had done, Dr. Eggman turned off the TV, got up from the couch and brushed the bits of junk food off his fuzzy pink onesie.

"Oh well, another one bites the dust. All this talk about sandwiches has got me hungry…for EVIL! Oh ho-ho-ho-ho!" He threw his head back and cackled.

"That would be the 5th stage: Acceptance." Orbot informed.

"Huh, what're yer talking about?" Cubot, still in cowboy mode, asked as he scratched his head.

Dr. Eggman pressed a button on the gauntlet he always carried on his arm, summoning the Eggmobile. He climbed aboard, looking like his usual evil self, sans his pink onesie. "I'll start by destroying the lot of you, then I'll be taking that Chaos Emerald and start my new world-conquering plan!"

"Ha, I'd like to see you try!" Charmy boasted.

"Charmy no," Espio tried to stop him from talking, but the bee either didn't notice or more likely decided to ignore him.

"There's like 1, 2…3…4?" His face scrunched up as he tried to count everyone before shaking his head. "A lot of us and just a few of you!"

"Oh really?" He pressed a button on the Eggmobile console.

Out of nowhere, a whole army of Badniks came out, surrounding them in no time. Weapons locked onto them and whined to power.

"…oops." The crocodile whacked Charmy upside the head.

Sonic took a good hard look at the sheer number of Badniks, and sighed before saying. "Vector, it looks like we'll need to work together."

"No way, you're on Dr. Eggman's side! Why should I trust you?"

"Does this _look_ like I'm on his side?" The blue hedgehog gestured to their surroundings.

"…Fair point." Vector finally conceded, as his mind had processed the logic. "So you're really not working with Dr. Eggman?"

Sonic simply glared.

He threw his hands up. "Hey, just had to be sure."

"Tails, these robots aren't personified right?" Silver asked.

The fox shook his head. "No, you can destroy those."

The army of Badniks closed in on them, forcing them to stand back to back in a tight circle at the center of the living room. Sonic got on a runner's position, ready to take off. Tails twirled his namesakes. Vector pounded a fist on his other palm. Espio pulled out his shuriken. Charmy scowled, truly believing he looked intimidating. He didn't.

Outnumbered dozens to one, all of them worn down by what they had gone through today, it all came down to this.

From the Eggmobile hovering above it all, Dr. Eggman pointed at them.

"ROBOTS, _ATTACK!_ "

Suddenly all the robots were engulfed in a glowing cyan aura and rose several inches off the ground, helplessly twitching. Little arcs of blue-white electricity crackled across the robots, thin plumes of smoke rising. The twitching went to a full out violent spasm before the robots blew up to charred bits of scrap.

"Well. That was anticlimactic." Dr. Eggman muttered under his breath. It was a sentiment reflected by everyone. They glanced at each other, waiting for someone to break the ice.

"Ok." Sonic finally said after a long silence. "I guess we're all done here. Good job Silver." He gave him a pat on the shoulder.

"Cool! You were all like _ka-pow_ and they were like _ka-BOOM!_ " Charmy exclaimed, miming an explosion with his hands.

While everyone was distracted, Dr. Eggman started to quietly slip away on the Eggmobile, heading towards the giant hole in the ceiling. He knew when he had to cut and run, and this was one of those times. Suddenly a shuriken lodged into the wall, just inches from slicing his prized mustache off. The evil genius yelped and lost control of the steering, making the Eggmobile crash back down. By the time he recovered from the fall, the Chaotix had completely surrounded them.

Vector crossed his arms, eyes narrowed. "Not so fast! Dr. Eggman, you're under arrest."

* * *

They were all outside of the lair, watching the sun set over the ocean while waiting for GUN to get here. Other than keeping an eye on Dr. Eggman and his robotic henchmen from escaping, there wasn't much else to do in the meantime. One thing led to another and then the Chaotix were listening to what had really happened today, and Silver's story, and found out that they missed out on a whole game.

"It's good you weren't there. Trust me, there are some things you can _never_ un-see." Tails shivered in horror.

"Huh, ok. I still got _most_ of the story right." Vector claimed.

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Sure, sure you did."

The Chaotix leader didn't notice the sarcasm. "The only thing that doesn't add up is the robot Miss Vanilla spotted at the park."

"That's because there was no robot." Espio quietly said.

Charmy cocked his head. "But you said-"

"I _lied_."

No one said anything. There was something very terrifying to hear such a hardness of tone coming from someone who was usually calm and collected. Something that would scare even the toughest of individuals who dared cross Espio's path.

The ninja took a deep breath. "I knew going after the Sandwich Thief would take up too much time, time we don't have. Which is why I lied so we could get the reward for Dr. Eggman's arrest to avoid the eviction on Monday."

"You did the right call. I got distracted from what we should've been doing and I'm sorry."

 _What do you know? Perhaps there's still hope for him._ Espio thought. _This could be the first step as he finally becomes a more mature and responsible person._

"Besides, we got Dr. Eggman _and_ the Sandwich Thief. Two cases solved in one day, now that's something you don't see every day. I bet Miss Vanilla will be really impressed when she hears about it!"

 _Never mind._

"Hey, what's that over there?" Tails pointed up at the sky.

At first nothing more than a tiny dark speck against the vibrant golden orange sky, everyone squinted as they tried to make it out.

"It's…GUN!" Charmy cried out. "They're here, they're finally here!"

A single GUN helicopter approached the island. It shakily hovered as it neared the ground, before the pilot simply cut the engine and let the helicopter plop unceremoniously on the shore. The Commander marched out. Everyone, even Dr. Eggman, looked around for another aircraft on the way or someone else. But no. It was only one helicopter, and just the Commander that had arrived.

"Dear god…" The Commander gasped.

"I know, I know." Vector said. "No need to thank me, just hand over the reward."

"Ah, yes, the reward." He cleared his throat. "The city of Station Square gives you their immense gratitude for your courage and admirable feat."

He took out a little black box from his pocket. "By the power vested in me as the GUN Commander, I reward you with…"

You could practically see Vector's pupils morphing into giant money signs as he yelled. "YES!"

The Commander opened the box. "This medal of honor!"

The money signs exploded into fragments that faded away. "What?"

"Well, I suppose you'll have to carry it, since I can't exactly pin it on you." He mused out loud, realizing that none of them were wearing anything, a vital part in the whole medal pinning process.

"Forget the medal!" Vector snapped. "What about the reward money?"

"Ah, about that…I can't give it to you."

"But the newspaper said turn Dr. Eggman in and get the money." Charmy said.

"Yes, however, the fine print was pretty clear. It says, and I quote." He stood up a bit straighter "'the arrest can only be done should Dr. Eggman be in the middle of attacking Station Square'. Outside these specific circumstances, I can't arrest him."

"You can't be serious." The crocodile groaned.

The Commander stared with a very grave face. "Whether we like it or not, Dr. Eggman _is_ the CEO of Eggman Inc., a well-established and recognized company."

Espio knew Vector was going to ask why he didn't mention the fine print. The truth was he did see it, but didn't get the chance to actually read it before Vector ripped the newspaper. Then when he suggested doing the band thing again, the ninja instantly decided anything was better than _that_ and brought up the reward for Dr. Eggman's arrest.

"How about his other schemes? Surely you can arrest him for that." The chameleon tried.

"No. According to volume 2 of the Sega Law Handbook, section D-4, page 158, paragraph 17. It clearly states: _Any and all evil plots, crimes, and world-conquering schemes intentionally caused by Dr. Eggman are nullified should Sonic stop him_. As we all know, Sonic always stops him."

"Yeah, pretty much." He shrugged.

"Therefore, Dr. Eggman technically has a clean record." The Commander said. "In fact, I'm going to have to take _you_ in for questioning."

He took one of his usual dramatic pauses.

"But I won't. Because thanks to you, I got the chance to leave the base repairs to the Lieutenant before he insisted I do any actual work." The Commander explained.

* * *

Back at the GUN base, the Lieutenant was outside supervising, checking things off his clipboard. His ear piece harshly crackled with static. He winced and pressed a finger to it, hearing the latest status report as he quickly wrote a reminder to spend some of the Making-Cool-Nukes budget on fixing the communication head pieces.

The Lieutenant nodded, "Alright, good work. Keep it up." Pressing the button to end communications, he quietly endured the burst of static that followed.

"Sir, I've just received word that all escaped top-secret experiments have been recaptured, the new _electrical_ fence is fully installed, and the Cover-Up Department is coming up with several cover-ups should the press find out." He checked those things off the list.

After long hours of directing and organizing, the endless cups of coffee and tending to the last detail, it was all finally done. Except for one thing.

 _I really need a vacation after this_. The Lieutenant thought, tapping the pen against the last empty box on the very long list. "Now, where do you want to put the highly unstable nukes sir?"

Silence.

"Sir?" The Lieutenant turned around. There was no sign of the Commander. He threw the clipboard, papers flying. "Augh, not _again!_ "

* * *

"Consider it payment for the favor you unwittingly did to me."

"How about paying us with _real money_ -" Vector snarled under his breath.

Espio cut in smoothly, before things could get out of hand. "We truly appreciate that Commander."

"Perfect. Now if you excuse me, I have to return to base." The Commander gave them all a salute and sharply turned around in a 180, marching back to the helicopter.

The aircraft lifted as unsteadily as it had landed, and took off, shrinking to a pinprick in the horizon.

* * *

It was a very awkward arrangement to fit six individuals on the Tornado, more so for Vector. He was clinging to the landing wheels underneath and everyone else had to hang onto the wings. The Tornado was a bit off balance due to their uneven weights and kept making some odd sounds, but luckily it didn't send everyone plummeting to a horrible painful death.

Finally, the skyscrapers of Station Square starting coming into view. Despite the almost complete darkness of the evening, the city was bright, kind of like Crisis City. Except instead of ever burning rivers of lava and despair, Station Square glowed with sparkling lights of every color.

 _Blaze, I wish you could see this…_ Silver briefly closed his eyes.

"Hold on tight!" Tails said. "I'm going to land the Tornado!"

The bi-plane curved right, steadily descending. Vector had to jump off to not be run over by the wheels and disappeared among the treetops that snapped under his weight.

 _Station Square Park._ Silver realized. _It's probably the only place in the city with enough room for the Tornado to land._

Other than a few bumps and skids, it was a smooth landing upon a clear grass field. Espio and Charmy thanked the heroic duo, the former apologizing for the big misunderstanding and got off the Tornado. They went a little bit in the direction Vector landed in, apparently deciding to wait for their leader to catch up.

"Hey, sorry we couldn't help you find the other Chaos Emerald." Tails said.

"It's fine. I'll just have to keep looking."

Sonic nodded. "Okay, but if we find a Chaos Emerald, we'll tell you. You gonna hang around here?"

"I think so." It wasn't so much that Silver wanted to stay here, but he couldn't think of where else to go. The only other place in the past he was somewhat familiar with was Soleanna, and he had no idea how far that could be from here.

"Cool, good luck Silver!" Sonic gave him a two-fingered salute and vanished in a blue blur that blew a gust towards everyone, made the trees rustle, and messed up Silver's quills. Tails started the Tornado and followed the speedster, leaving to their next adventure.

Now that he was alone, Silver's smile fell. He knew he'd have to keep looking for the Chaos Emerald. That was a given, he was going to make it home. He _had_ to. The problem was that despite Sonic and Tails offering to keep an eye out for more Chaos Emeralds, it could still take time before he could go back to his era. And Silver had no idea how he was going to survive in the meantime.

His stomach growled. He'd gone all day with nothing else other than the sandwich he'd gotten from the morning. Admittingly that was better than most days back home, but hunger was something impossible to get used to. One could only learn to deal with it. On top of that, Silver felt tired in more ways than physical exhaustion. Drained was a better word, as if he'd been sucked dry, leaving his limbs heavy and mind aching.

It was the result of having used his powers all day long, though it was also due to him having fought Solaris a little bit over a day ago before arriving here. Before that he'd been trying to find and destroy the Iblis Trigger, not an easy feat with all of Eggman's robots and the fights with Sonic and Shadow. And _before_ of all that Silver had just finished battling Iblis when Mephiles showed up out of nowhere and sent him to the past.

It was no surprise he felt like passing out at any second. The only thing keeping him awake was the increasingly chilling air of the evening. Silver looked out towards Station Square. It was still as bright and buzzing and terrifying as when he first arrived to the city. He shivered, partly from the cold and partly from the looming uncertainty, and headed towards the entrance of the park.

Meanwhile Vector popped out, brushing leaves and twigs off him. "I can't believe it! We wasted all day long going after Dr. Eggman and what do we got to show for it? _Nothing_ , that's what. Today was a total bust."

"At least we got a medal!" Charmy brandished it proudly, before shrugging at their incredulous expressions. "What? It's shiny."

"If you don't get out of my face right now, I swear I'll-"

"Vector? Is that you?" A soft gentle voice called out.

"Miss Vanilla!" He recognized, as he rushed over to her. His throat felt clogged, making his voice strain and crack at a high pitch.

"What a pleasant surprise! I-Wait." He spotted yellow tape. Crime scene tape. _His_ tape. His eyes almost popped out. "I'm so sorry! Are you okay?"

He'd been so determined to find the Sandwich Thief he had completely forgotten to give them the all clear to leave the crime scene.

"Yes, we're fine." She assured as he ripped the tape to tatters, letting them come out.

"Uh…" Vector tried to think of something else to say, then he saw Silver at the entrance to the park. "I caught the Sandwich Thief!" He announced, loud enough that it made the hedgehog turn around in confusion.

"You did?" The rabbit asked.

"Course I did." He puffed out his chest. Espio cleared his throat.

"And they helped too I guess." Vector mumbled, before holding up a finger. "Excuse me one moment."

Silver had been looking out towards the city, taking a moment to weigh his extremely limited options when he heard Vector yell 'Sandwich Thief' and looked back, just to see the crocodile racing towards him.

Vector slammed his heels to the ground, tearing up bits of grass and dirt. "Hey Silver! Wait up! I need you to come back with me real quick."

"Um, sure." _It's not like I had somewhere to be anyways_. Silver thought as he followed him back into the park to where Espio and Charmy and-

His eyes widened. Right there, was the lady he had stolen the sandwich from.

"Miss Vanilla. I give you, the Sandwich Thief." Vector presented, doing some sort of ta-da thing with his hands.

"I'm really sorry." Silver blurted, stomach churning. "I just got so _hungry_ and-"

She smiled warmly. "It's alright, you don't have to apologize. It's just a sandwich."

"That's what I've been trying to say this entire time." Espio quietly seethed under his breath. His comment went unnoticed by everyone.

"Goodness, it's gotten very late." The rabbit gasped and grabbed Cream's hand. "We must be on my way now."

"How about I walk you to your house?" Vector offered.

"Oh no, I couldn't possibly ask more of you dear, but thank you." She nodded. "Good-bye, I hope you all have a pleasant evening."

Vector kept a cool face until she left the park and giggled stupidly.

"I saw Miss Vanilla _twice_ in one day, and she called me dear!" He said in a gleeful, sing-song voice before telling the others. "You know what guys? Today wasn't so bad after all."

Just as Espio had the hope maybe the insanity of today was over, Vector suddenly said. "Hey Silver, how'd ya like to be part of the Chaotix Detective Agency? Just until you find that other Chaos Emerald."

"I…"

"Yay! I've always wanted a roomie." Charmy cheered. "We'll tell stories and stay up late and eat candy…"

Silver didn't have the chance to tell Charmy he had no idea of half of the things he was saying. As the hyperactive bee kept on rambling on of all the things they were going to do, Espio pulled the crocodile aside for a private conversation.

"What do you think you are doing?"

"It's technically thanks to him Miss Vanilla called me dear. I owe it to him." Vector said. "Besides, he looks like he could use the help."

"That's good and all, but right now we simply don't have the money to support ourselves, much less another person and chances are we'll be evicted by Monday."

Vector shrugged nonchalantly. "Eh, we've been through way worse than that."

Espio looked at the hedgehog. It was painfully obvious he was hopelessly lost, understandable considering he wasn't from this time.

Vector could be a lot of things. Loud (especially when chewing gum), obnoxious, thick-headed, but he had his heart in the right place. Espio didn't think this was a good idea. Analyzing their situation, the ninja didn't see how anything other than disaster was going to come out of this. But he also thought that when they were sneaking through the GUN base, and when they were in Dr. Eggman's lair surrounded by robots. Espio always concluded that every time they were in a tough situation, and _somehow_ with all the odds stacked against them, they were still here in one piece.

"Yes…I suppose we have. You're going to hire him regardless." Espio pointed out.

"That's the spirit!" With that, Vector turned to Silver and grinned. "So, whaddaya say?"

Silver pressed his mouth to a hard, thin line and took out the Chaos Emerald. He peered into the glowing blue gem, as if he'd find the answer within. He completely missed when Vector jabbed an elbow at Charmy, who quickly followed suit with an equally face-splitting smile.

Looking up, Silver finally said. "Yeah, I'd like to."

Charmy whooped and zipped around him in dizzying circles. Espio gave him a single accepting nod.

"Great!" Vector shook his hand jubilantly, almost ripping his arm off. "Welcome to the Chaotix Detective Agency!"

* * *

There we have it, the finale of my first complete multi-chaptered story. It might not be long or even good, but I finally finished it and I am darn proud of that.

It took way longer than I thought to complete it, since the story was going to be 3 chapters. _Originally_ , it was going to be even shorter. The original idea was how Silver struggled in his first day of living 200 years ago, and the Chaotix only played a small part.

Then it turned into _this._


End file.
